In a couple of days Robbie Cowling will be that little bit closer to Roman Abramovich.

Not that one of Essex's most successful entrepreneurs is about to become a Russian billionaire. No, this is much more important, especially for someone as passionate about football as Cowling.

On Saturday, as the English football season begins, Colchester United will really belong to him.

Forget that he became the U's owner - on paper, at least - nearly 12 months ago. That was just the legal bit. Cowling won't feel he has taken over proper until he watches that first game, the U's away against Sheffield United.

Cowling, similar to most football club owners, is not keen on the limelight. He is, he insists, a very private person. He will talk about the club and his work but everything else - including his wife of 21 years and three children - is, well, private.

But when he took over the U's, some of that limelight fell on him. The U's had just made their debut in the Championship. They were the Cinderella club which had gone to the ball - albeit without the posh frock and the glass slippers - and not disgraced themselves when midnight struck. All this had meant a lot of national media attention. As the club's new owner, Cowling was getting noticed.

But who is this man who wants to "bring the club up to Championship level", who, according the club's chief executive Marie Partner, has an "unquenchable thirst for success" and is "very energetic and very ambitious"?

Robbie Cowling has always supported the U's. Even though he is a die-hard West Ham fan - hence his three-year shirt sponsorship - he insists there has always been room for Colchester. He was born in east London 46 years ago in the shadow of Upton Park, home to his beloved West Ham.

His family - he was the middle of nine children - moved to Jaywick when he was seven. There wasn't much money, but Cowling said that did not matter. He had, he said, a "fantastic" upbringing.

After leaving Colbayns School in Clacton he took up a four-year car mechanic apprenticeship. It was around this time he realised he had a knack with computers. He finished his apprenticeship, took a computer course and, eventually, became a computer contractor.

In 1993, he realised computers could be just the thing for finding and advertising jobs. No one else was doing it, so why not? Cowling was joined by a friend, John Witney, and Jobserve took shape.

It was a leap of faith. Computers were established in industry by then, but the internet, essential for their dream, was fledgling. Initially, Jobserve was a faxing service from Cowling's bedroom, then - in 1994 - it hit the internet.

Cowling never looked back. Jobserve, based at Tower Business Park in Tiptree, was one of the few internet companies to not only survive the dot-com collapse of the late 1990s but to thrive.

By 2001 the company was generating annual profits of £7 million, had made it into the top 25 list of the UK's fastest growing companies and was the first dot-com company to receive the Queen's Award for Enterprise for innovation.

Cowling's response had been modest.

"It surprised me because it is quite a traditional award," he said at the time. "That means this is a great boost to everyone here at Jobserve."

He puts the success of Jobserve down to his staff, but no one is in any doubt that, mild-mannered or not, Cowling is still in charge. He is the boss. That his quiet, unassuming public face is also the face in the boardroom - at Jobserve and the U's - is unlikely.

Cowling is a shrewd businessman - how else could Jobserve have avoided becoming just another spectacular dot-com crash?

It is this pedigree which Cowling brings to Colchester United. He never gave up when the going got tough for Jobserve, which means he won't give up on the U's, especially as he has wanted to own the club for quite some time.

"Peter Heard (previous owner) and I had a conversation when Jobserve was sponsoring the team a few years ago, that if he ever wanted to sell the club I would like the opportunity to make him an offer," he said, shortly after becoming the U's owner. Heard approached him in August 2006.

"We quickly agreed a deal," Cowling explained.

Cowling is now much more involved in the club. He wants to establish a "purpose-built" training ground for the U's and is currently "looking at a number of pieces of land in the Colchester area".

"The U's have done so well," he declared, "and I want to ensure they get even better. I am looking to improve everything about Colchester United, including trying to bring them up to Championship level."

Even though the U's more than held their own in the Championship last season, he believes there is a lot more work to do. Which is Abramovich all over.